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February 12, 2007

Hogwash for the Faithful

Once in awhile some news story will break that demonstrates how entirely desperate some Christians are to prove the origins and early history of the world occurred literally as presented in the Bible. Whether it's the discovery of Noah's ark, the discovery of Sodom and Gomorrah, the finding of Egyptian chariot wheels in the bottom of the Red Sea, or the most recent evidence that God literally spoke the world into existence, in every case, great leaps of faith combine with highly questionable "evidence" to result in "proof" that is accepted at face value by the faithful.

The notion that God spoke and the world and all living things were created comes from Genesis. According to the Bible, it all began when God moved across the face of the waters and said, "Let there be light."

The Christian wingnut "news" website WorldNet Daily is reporting that a Kentucky science student named Samuel J. Hunt has proven that the biblical account of creation is true because sound can create light. Sonoluminescence is when a sonic signal is sent into bubbles in a fluid, causing the bubbles to collapse and release photons. In other words, there was water, God flew across the water and spoke to it, and light came out. Voila! Genesis is proven to be literally accurate.

If you're a little more skeptical, however, you're going to notice several problems right away. First of all, how did that water get there if nothing had been created yet? Second, without any matter, there is no sound, because sound is the vibration of matter, so speaking to the water wouldn't have created sound or light. Third, the sun, moon and stars aren't made of water, and God isn't constantly speaking to them to keep them sending out their light. And fourth, the entire scenario would have God simply serving as a catalyst – a fairly demeaning role, if one believes in a Supreme Being.

Hunt admits some of his teachers think his theories are "complete hogwash." I don't know what else we could expect from a third year college student who is studying pre-physical therapy and nutrition/dietetics, as opposed to astrophysics. But Worldnet Daily doesn't tell its faithful readers that part.

Posted by Becky at February 12, 2007 10:30 AM